The invention is directed to a mowing apparatus for mowing of stalk-like harvest commodities especially corn, the mowing being performed independently of rows whereby the mowed crop is conveyed to a chopper through draw-in rollers arranged in a draw-in box. Several rotating mowing rollers with rigid entrainment devices are assigned to the draw-in box and cooperate with additional rollers due to overlapping of tip paths of the respective entrainment devices.
Such a mowing apparatus is known from the DE-OS 32 26 876, wherein four mowing- and feed or draw-in rollers are arranged across a working width of approximately three meters. The outer mowing- and feed or draw-in rollers guide herein the mowed harvest commodity in a wide arc at first towards the outside along a compartmentation arc supporting the cut-off stalks towards the inner mowing and draw-in roller, which then further conveys the outer stalks by means of long radial entrainment devices together with the inner stalks. Herein guides constitute a respectively separate draw-in channel, in which the stalks of the outer draw-in roller are kept separate from those of the inner draw-in roller. These guides concentrically embracing the draw-in and mowing rollers assume the support of the stalks during their conveyance especially when transmitting the stalks to the inner roller.
Apart from the long conveyance travel because of the redirection towards the external side, the increased construction cost is disadvantageous, since each compartmentation or separation tip must be equipped with the guidance brackets respectively projecting beyond the next separation or compartmentation tip. Furthermore, it is disadvantageous that because of the shown twin flow conveyance, the external mowing roller is arranged far from the inner mowing roller and thus in case of a longer working period there results a high nose heaviness and a large overhang towards the front.
Furthermore, a mowing apparatus is known from the DE-OS 34 06 551, in which the rigid entrainment devices have been replaced by controlled entrainment fingers. This permits operation without countersupports for the mowed cornstalks, since these can be sufficiently well retained in the hook-shaped entrainment devices during the lateral conveyance and are released for the transfer to the draw-in box.
Also, in this case, the increased constructional expense for the plurality of bearing points for the swivelable tines is disadvantageous, as well as the far forward overhang of the draw-in drum in case of greater working widths.